This chapter has presented basic principles and procedures of baselining. We first described the two basic purposes of baselining as helping you in your assessment of the case/situation and aiding you...

This chapter has presented basic principles and procedures of baselining. We first described the two basic purposes of baselining as helping you in your assessment of the case/situation and aiding you in evaluating the outcome. We briefly discussed the two major types of baselines, concurrent/prospective and reconstructed/retrospective, and the differences in their use. The next section discussed issues regarding how long baselining should be continued and the principles for deciding this, which involve utility, stability, and selecting a period of time using several guidelines. We also discussed the situations in which baselines may not be necessary. The chapter concluded with a review of some of the basic issues involving baselining.